The intention today was to explore, A. The Socio-Political Context of Jamaica and the Caribbean; B. The limitations of Nationalism and Garveyism, C. Caribbean Fanonism. However, we barely addressed those topics as we began by,
Tracing an outline of Caribbean within Caribbean Thought:
-1492-3 – Columbus- knowledge religion people wealth -Ulterior motive: gold/profit/greed/international competition capital -Slave trade -Sugar plantation society -Heroes and maroons-Abolition riots and loss -Freedom: Emancipation and Independence -Servitude and Indentured labor from China and India -Coming of the Jews-Blacks work for wages -War anti-imperialism Marxism vs capitalism -Nationalism (ideology) 1940-1955 — 1970s 1980s-Independence and short-term prosperity (Bauxite and ownership)1970 Oil crises -Migration (1950s)-Manley vs Seaga (Jamaica)-Castro (Cuba)-Bishop (Grenada)-Migration- brain drain – 1970sRemittances (1970s – 2019)-Caribbean Identity (struggle, conquest, schizophrenia poverty and inequality and dependent capitalism -Globalization -Corruption, Crime and violence -Towards the Future: If the Caribbean is an invention of the 20th century, it seems certain to be reinterpreted and perhaps transcended in the 21st century-Faith, Culture, music, sports and opportunity (science and technology, brain drain as export value, information and technology)-Community: collective sense yet its haphazard and not strategically effective and targeted.
We Revisited the issue of Identity within a male-dominated Caribbean society inherited from a Eurocentric Theology that influences sexual identity and places limits on the woman. We asked are institutions inclusive or promote Caribbean feminist ideology of equality, which may mean jettisoning language of privilege? We discussed whether Columbus really discovered or captured Jamaica and the New World, concluding that it depends on the logic or truth that we follow – Pragmatic, Coherent or Correspondence theory of truth. We discussed Rex Nettleford’s work on Identity saying: The challenge of identity can best be resolved by a question: Who am I is better answered by who I want to be? We defined some concepts important to Caribbean Thought: Feminism, Nationalism as against Fascism and Extremism, the meaning of socio-political as we explored the socio-political context of Jamaica and by extension the Caribbean. We underscored the importance of the post colonialist method of analyzing and presenting perspectives, lifting up Michel Foucault, Kant, Gramsci, Kenneth Clark etc. We briefly review the importance of Greek chauvinism and Roman influence in the development of Western civilization steeped in privilege. From there we discussed how that has come to define the new world. Then there’s the current condition in the world today that the Caribbean find itself asking how it is affected by tense conditions: Who Rules the world? If Corporations/multinationals driven by greed rule America, the most dominant country in the world despite the fact that leadership in the center in softening. However, China and Russia understand this and have used strategy to develop their countries into a market that can entice American Businesses racing to cash in. But China controls consumer behavior and therefore this poses a threat to American dominance as their corporations become dependent on China’s market. China and Brazil are also ditching the dollar for Krypto as they seek to unseat American dominance in the world. How will this affect Caribbean? We explored the situation in Singapore and Vietnam comparing them with the Caribbean and how their socio-economic outlook is brighter as investors are rushing there. What can we learn from this? We concluded discussing Neoliberalism, Chapter 3: the Socio-political Context of the Caribbean.
The course is offered at The Jamaica Theological Seminary, 3 hours weekly and is a 2200 level course within the Humanities. https://jts.edu.jm.
Lecturer: Rev. Renaldo.McKenzie@jts. Author of “Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty and Resistance;” and “Neoliberal Globalization Reconsidered, Neo-Capitalism and the Death of Nations.” Renaldo is a Doctoral Student at Georgetown University (in absentia).